Among his other previous jobs, Hodges had been head of the retail retirement sales unit at Wells Fargo Advisors, according to the publication.

He is replacing Bill Beardsley, who left LPL Retirement Partners in August and now serves as regional vice president for Columbia Threadneedle Investments’ Midwest region, according to InvestmentNews.

A spokesman for LPL didn’t return the publication’s request for comment on Hodgens’ appointment.

LPL Retirement Partners, formed with LPL’s purchase in 2010 of National Retirement Partners, has been undergoing some changes over the past year, InvestmentNews writes.

Beardsley’s predecessor David Reich left the unit in June 2017 and now serves as national president of Hub International’s retirement services unit tasked with managing acquisitions of advice practices with a retirement-plan focus, according to the publication.

Additionally, in the past two years LPL has seen the departures of three advice practices with large retirement plan operations, including Independent Financial Partners, Resources Investment Advisors and Ingham Retirement Group, according to the publication. The three firms managed over $16 billion, InvestmentNews writes.

The changes have caused some advisors to believe LPL is slowing down its retirement-plan operations, the publication claims. LPL’s executives, however, “adamantly deny” this, according to InvestmentNews.